University of Virginia Library

Now Contemplation, mark'd with brow serene,
Fond of the cool retreat, and sylvan scene,
Science, and eagle-pinion'd Genius, fraught
With richest stores of elevated thought,
Abroad through Nature take their ample range,
Where objects infinite on objects change;
Where, to the eye of angels and of men,
Within belief, although beyond our ken,
Omnipotence exhibits ev'ry hour,
The mighty efforts of creative pow'r;
On each inscrib'd the dread eternal name,
Though silent all, proclaiming whence they came.
Here, to ennoble, and instruct mankind
In knowledge boundless as the godlike mind,
Each with sublime solicitude essays
To celebrate what soars above all praise!
That first supreme Intelligence, who spoke,
And light first-born from central darkness broke,
Whence beauty, order, grace, proportion, springs,
And all the fair variety of things!
Not to a system's scanty bourne confin'd,
With bolder flight, wing'd by the eastern wind,
Each launches out into transmundane space,
Where other orbs perform far other race;
Through constellations of unnumber'd stars,
Whose fix'd rotations no cross impulse mars;
Through radiant files of planets, each a world,
By hand divine in various orbits hurl'd:
Where beings, of superiour rank to men,
Inspir'd with higher intellectual ken,
Rejoice, no envy, obloquy, or strife,
In all the chaste delights of social life;
Bless'd with their Maker's presence, like the pair
That once breath'd Eden'd unpolluted air;
Immaculate from Guilt's opprobrious stain,
Uncheck'd by conscience, and untouch'd by pain;
Adorn'd with Beauty's sentimental grace,
No cares to cloud, no sorrows to efface.
His presence—not tremendous to confound,
Thick terrours inaccessible around;
Not overwhelming in the blaze of light,
Which angels view not with undazzled sight;
Nor deep amid night's sullen gloom conceal'd,
But in benignant majesty reveal'd.

For who would dare Almighty pow'r confine,
Stint Wisdom, or philanthropy divine,
That, far in ether's circumambient void,
Rais'd by a word, as by a breath destroy'd,
Each pond'rous orb on its proud axis spun,
To point its various regions to the sun;
Grac'd by its equipage of worlds around,
And compass'd wide by oceans without bound;
Though of his works most obvious to our view,
Nothing to what Omnipotence can do?

Oft, by too complex boundless scenes ingross'd,
In the bright maze of radiant wonders lost,
Fancy exhausted intermits her range,
Fond of gradations, or successive change;
O'er Earth's inchanting objects casts her glance,
Where simpler beauties smile at her advance,
Yet, as originally form'd for man,
Not perfect less in Heav'n's distinguish'd plan.

Now, when from climates far remote return'd,
Where late his lamp in mid-day glory burn'd,
The sun, collected in his softest light,
Pours his increasing splendours on the sight,
Love's melting thrill of transport to impart,
And chase the damps of sadness from the heart;
Now should we quit the silken bed of ease,
Where lengthen'd slumbers hurt us while they please,
Soon as the Dawn, fair harbinger of day,
Gilds the horizon with her early ray;
While Night's thick shades, before her sacred eye,
As fogs before the wind, disparted fly.

Now, Music calls from ev'ry bush, “Arise,
“The morning-star grows languid in the skies;
“Deeper the east ting'd with carnation glows,
“While you indulge in indolent repose;
“Arise, and ere his journey is begun,
“Be ready to salute the full-orb'd sun,
“The full-orb'd sun, set to a thousand eyes,
“Fond of his wonted visit to our skies;
“Pleas'd to behold an active world astir,
“Of Vice asham'd, and unenslav'd by her.”
Now ev'ry godlike faculty and pow'r,
Invigorated through the midnight hour,
When slumber's opiate finger clos'd the eyes,
Exults, expands, glows, and affects the skies.
Through depths of study, sciences sublime,
Motion, eternity, space, matter, time,
Unbounded now the vagrant fancy's caught,
In all the swift rapidity of thought.

How sweet to visit some sequester'd bow'r,
Or green recess, at this calm silent hour!
Some arching alley's melancholy shade,
Embroider'd meadow, or cool upland glade!
To wander thoughtful o'er the wide-stretch'd lawn,
Breathing the humid fragrance of the dawn!
Or from some airy hill's aspiring height,
Gilded with early beams of crimson light,
To mark the gradual slow approach of day,
And see how darkness gently fades away!
How ev'ry object rises to the view,
But dimly seen, wet with nocturnal dew!
Or fir'd by some enthusiastic page,
The envy, boast, and model of the age;
With genius, taste, and solid learning fraught,
To swell in conscious dignity of thought;
Triumphant borne on Faith's exulting wings,
Sceptres and thrones view'd as inferiour things,
To rise above earth's sublunary clime,
And think ourselves immortal for the time.
Or, when we shift our visionary plan,
Sink down apace, and dwindle into man;
Where crystal-pointed rocks, and caverns wide,
Responses quick return from side to side,
Soft, from the hautboy's modulated throat,
To swell the gentle, tender, thrilling note,
Symphonious with a croud of warblers round,
While distant hills return each pleasing sound.

Such entertainments, not to few confin'd,
But obvious to the bulk of humankind,
True bliss to man's capacious wish impart,
And wake the noblest feelings of the heart.
Such entertainments keep his thoughts aloof
From vice, that constant object of reproof;
Calm all his passions (the reverse a crime)
And leave no stupid vacuum in time;
Assist his hopes on wing of fire to rise,
And train him up an angel for the skies.

Now simple, various, regular throughout,
By a strong hedge of hawthorns fenc'd about,
The Olitory in fair prospect ies,
To drink the genial moisture of the skies;
Where herbs unnumber'd (patriarchal fare)
And roots their vegetable pulp prepare.
There all along the pleas'd observer walks,
Where artichokes erect their lusty stalks,
Maturing, to accommodate the board,
A dainty rich as culture can afford;
Yonder, with tendrils creeping through the mold,
Where cucumbers acquire their icy cold,
Furnish'd with gelid juices for the treat,
Amid the fervours of meridian heat.
No ostentatious group of radiant hues,
No gorgeous liv'ry here the florist views.
No odours evanescent hence exhale,
No dulcet dews to load the breathing gale.
Kind Nature here is busied to produce
Objects not form'd for pleasure, but for use.
Hail, Parent of creation! Friend of man!
How gracious, how benevolent's thy plan!
Through heav'n and earth's unmeasurable space,
Adapted to the season, and the place,
Thy hand is ever open'd to bestow,
Thy favours boundless as our wishes flow!

On yonder gentle elevation, whence
The checker'd prospect is beheld immense,
With tincts and pencil ready in his hand,
The painter occupies his airy stand;
While Light's mild setting ray, no veil behind,
Gilds each alluring object to his mind.
Now to the laughing mead, or verdant hill,
He glances round, still charm'd, delighted still,
Where herds regale on herbage to their wish,
And rosy milk-maids heap the fragrant dish;
Now to the hamlet, at some distance seen,
Embosom'd in a knot of beeches green;
Or steeple glitt'ring to the pointed ray,
Or mighty ruin leaning to decay;
Next to some giddy rock's projecting height,
Pendent o'er caverns dark as tenfold night;
Or lofty bridge, whose ample arches stride
Unmov'd o'er some fam'd river's rapid tide:
Nor does the shepherd, with his trusty cur,
Nor ploughman, as he turns the slanting fur,
Nor avenue, nor vista, plac'd beside
Some grandee's seat, the boast of titled pride;
Nor colonnade, with Doric figures grac'd,
Nor glass-roof'd stove in warmth congenial plac'd;
Nor obelisk, whose Parian columns rise
Magnificently towering to the skies;
Nor temple built on some majestic height,
To terminate the boundaries of sight;
Nor angler playing his fictitious fly,
Nor woodland hind, elude his curious eye.

Now finish'd out in blended light and shade,
First it, and then the landscape is survey'd;
Alternate, lest some slighter fault escape,
In site, in colour, symmetry, or shape.
The strict review, repeated o'er and o'er,
Serves only to enhance his joy the more.
Pleas'd with the nice precision of his art,
He marks the semblance just in ev'ry part,
Delighted in such narrow bounds to bring
The choicest beauties of the full-blown Spring.

Nor shall Ardelia, in yon arch'd alcove,
Espalier-walk, or vista-open'd grove,
From empty Life's impertinence retir'd,
Pass her sequester'd moments unadmir'd.
There, on a sofa of sweet-scented flow'rs,
While Spring seems to prolong the soften'd hours,
With deep attention, and enraptur'd look,
Curious she pores on some applauded book,
Which genius animates, which sancy fires,
Knowledge enriches, and chaste wit inspires.
Or thoughtful muses through the solemn shade,
Which no rude sounds or hostile steps invade.
Far from the haunts of Faction and of Pride,
Where Peace and Friendship, sisters twain, reside.
Far from the glance of Envy, pale as death,
Censure's bold tongue, and Slander's baneful breath.
Where, tir'd with kings and parasites to mix,
Delighted their abode the Muses fix;
Seldom to such inspiring glooms pursu'd,
In solitudes by mortals seldom woo'd.
Where Melancholy's pensive train resort,
And Meditation holds her silent court;
Frequented, not by Passion's headstrong band,
With flames or pointed daggers in their hand;
But by each Virtue, gentle, modest, kind,
Chaste inmate of the heav'n-attemper'd mind.
Hither, to shun the scorching noontide ray,
Ever with such associates fond to stray,
Ardelia steals with transport from the throng,
Where Mode and Int'rest settle right and wrong;
Where Self, though often in a fair disguise,
Her sordid arts is licens'd to practise;
Where but a few avow, and that by stealth,
The love of virtue, or contempt of wealth:
While Folly laughs contemptuous at the man,
Whose views extend beyond the present span,
Who, from fix'd motives, not a transient mood,
Dares nobly to be singularly good;
For tyrant Fashion makes more errant fools,
Who err by method, and offend by rules,
Than who, from heedless levity within,
Or from direct intention, grossly sin.

While in one airy, vain, phantastic round,
With Folly's many-colour'd garland crown'd,
Flavilla lightly trifles time away,
Her sole sublime ambition to be gay;
To place a brilliant, or a patch dispose,
Lest greater taste admir'd Aminta shows;
To run through, on the celebrated tour,
Civility's whole science in an hour;
To boast a set of coxcombs at her call,
Shine at a play, or flutter at a ball;
At cards display her masculine address,
Her ardour doubled, as her fortune less:
While thus Flavilla learns the modern art,
From all her native softness to depart;
That female dignity which only can
Secure the right of conquest over men;
Ardelia, though the first of woman-kind,
Alike for charms of person as of mind;
Whom birth ennobles, Fortune greatly lifts
Above the Sex by her peculiar gifts;
To whose kind lot no common talents fall,
Admir'd, respected, and belov'd by all;
On Virtue much her ravish'd thoughts employs,
And much partakes of her unenvy'd joys,
Never, a partial boast almost her own,
More throngly occupied than when alone:
While zephyrs through the flaunting woodbines stray,
As if in whispers their devoirs to pay;
And overhead a choir of warblers sing,
In sweetest strains, hers, and the charms of Spring.

Nor wonder Virtue rivets her respect,
While riches are beheld with fix'd neglect;
For Taste and Self appear on Virtue's side,
At once preserve our interests and our pride.
The more true virtue we admire and love,
Pleasing the more Spring's beauteous objects prove.
In loving her what heights soe'er we gain,
Insolvents still to Virtue we remain.
For chiefly to the man, whate'er he be,
Of rank pre-eminent, or mean degree,
Who, taught in Reason's, not the Stoic's school,
Keeps all his various passions under rule;
Guards against future errours, mends the past,
And lives each day as if decreed his last;
Spring is the source, where-e'er he turns his view,
Of pleasures ever exquisite, and new;
Ambitious still to entertain the man,
Who nobly acts on so sublime a plan;
A plan, laid down by Virtue for her sons,
Which parallel with life immortal runs.

In ev'ry place an elegance he finds,
Unnotic'd, unadmir'd, by vulgar minds;
Unmark'd by Study's microscopic eye,
That boasts such hidden wonders she can spy,
Grand in effect, as in design immense,
Beyond dull Vision's unassisted sense.
The charms of structure, symmetry, and hue,
So valu'd by the philosophic few,
Are but a part (let kings with clowns condole)
Of the divinely-complicated Whole.
Newton, superiour to the herd of men,
As, to a mortal's, is an angel's ken,
Fathom'd Heav'n's depths unmeasurably far,
Balanc'd in its bright orbit ev'ry star;
And hence, in full magnificence of proof,
While infidels, astonish'd, stood aloof,
Deduc'd one first, supreme, almighty Cause,
Acting by stated and eternal laws.
But Virtue's son, though Learning's paths untrod,
In ev'ry common instance finds a God.
Finds Him, and with the raptures of a Young,
When strains of Paradise flow'd from his tongue,
(In Night's deep ear yet swell the plaintive lays)
Rises to all the ecstasy of praise.

He, with a title monarchs dare not claim,
Unbounded views the Universal Frame,
And, while his knees their prompt devotions pay,
With humble confidence can boldly say,
“For me the curtains of the sky were spread,
“And sun, and moon, and stars in glory clad.
“For me, while seraphims exulting sung,
“In ambient air Earth's mighty orb was hung.
“For me, the Seasons roll the mystic round,
“In ev'ry change peculiar blessings found;
“While grateful clouds drop fatness on the plain,
“In lucid dew-drops, or in show'rs of rain.
“For me, by sapient laws supremely right,
“Alternately succeed the Day and Night.
“For me, mild zephyrs cool the noon-tide heat,
“And savages to forest-glooms retreat.
“For me, while inoffensive lightnings glow,
“Loud thunders break, and winds tumultuous blow,
“To purge the vital fluid of the air.
“Lest fogs and foul infections harbour there.
“For me the hills with gentle slope ascend,
“And verdure-painted vales beneath extend;
“While gurgling rills in fluid crystal glide,
“And cattle feast on Nature's flowery pride.
“For me, secure from Want's increas'd alarm,
“Beauty and Plenty spread their ev'ry charm;
“To touch the springs of Transport various ways,
“Or court the studious eye's elab'rate gaze.
“For me, aloft the groves umbrageous shoot,
“And ripen'd orchards bend with mellow fruit,
“Where all the gay musicians of the Spring
“From care and sorrow their exemption sing.
“For me, the Deep's illimitable space
“Swarms with its millions of the finny race.
“For me, the mountain, in its precious veins,
“Masses matur'd of ductile ore contains,
“Or marble, boasted monument of fame,
“To bear some mighty Hero's sculptur'd name.
“For me, the diamond sparkles on the rock,
“And coral blushes on its parent stock.
“For me the jonquil elegantly blooms,
“And roses lavish round their soft perfumes.
“For me, the bees through scented blossoms stray,
“And sip their aromatic breath away.
“For me, the injur'd fibre to renew,
“The healing plant distills its lenient dew.
“For me, the vine's impurpled cluster swells,
“And juicy melons fill their turgid cells.”

But small were his possessions, if confin'd
To blessings offer'd to all human kind.
With less contracted amplitude of thought,
With expectations more sublimely fraught,
Thus may his heart dilate, his bosom glow,
Thus his full raptures in big utt'rance flow;
“When earth and skies to nothing shall decay,
“And in their orbits planets melt away;
“When Time, coeval with yon radiant sun,
“His sand-glass of a thousand ages run,
“Shall to Eternity his charge resign,
“And worlds adjudg'd surround the bar divine;
“For me, with gods and angels to be shar'd,
“A state of bliss and glory is prepar'd,
“Vast as my boundless wishes can extend,
“And lasting, like my being, without end.”

But see, what gentle objects court us hence,
And spread their charms to captivate each sense.
Shall we the pleasing summons disobey?
What half so sweet, so elegant as they!